13th July, Dunnerdale and the River Duddon

The activities of the day before played a small part in today's outing, exercises to ease the joints took a while, creaks, groans and grinding noises were heard, coffee was taken several times and a route decided on.

Our developing interest in wildlife has meant creating a gap in our holiday schedule, Scotland will be there forever, we may even move there one day when the circumstances are right. The walk up Middle Fell was great, a favourite for views but our special valley is Dunnerdale, a great view up to Bowfell my most climbed and treasured fell.

This is a great place to appreciate the beauty of the Lake District, the clean flow of the River Duddon is lovely, the parking at Birks Bridge is free, Harter Fell is a great walk from here for the energetic souls.

Fans of the smaller flora and fauna will find delights such as the Gatekeeper butterfly at the right time of year.... and fungi like these are abundant near the forest edges.

Damp conditions seem to have led to ideal foxglove proliferation, a woodland favourite luckily!

The woodland by the river Duddon, is a verdant and damp place, Cumbrian scenery without high fells.

We took a path into the woods, small unidentified birds flitted to and fro in the low light in here then a larger bird flew across our line of sight, a jay. We followed a pathless route through the trees, walking quietly towards the loud squawking which was now evident, the sound of more than one jay.

No matter how carefully we moved the only sights we had were jays in flight, not unusual though they are uncannily aware of human presence. We found the riverbank and tracked cautiously back towards the line of the path.

A nuthatch refused to appear in full and I had to content myself with top and bottom photographs!

Our path led us up to a splendid old bridge and some cascades known as the Froth Pot.

Not too far from here back to the car, more foxgloves to enjoy along the way-

After a rest back at the car we retraced the last few hundred yards of the walk, some small birds had been seen in a copse of trees and we wanted a better look.

This one was easy, a bluetit!

Next up was one that was more difficult and only determined when I had a good look at the photographs, willow warbler.

 Reaching the bridge again we turned and wandered back to the car park.

One last bird sighting for the day, a thin reedy call from the edge of the trees alerted us, I crawled into the midge infested undergrowth and after several re-focusing attempts managed to get a close up of a juvenile wren!

Back at the car park two mini buses were now parked, their passengers enjoying a snack by the river.

Visitors from the USA sampling the delights of the Lake District with http://www.mountain-goat.com/

One lady enquired as to the source of our hot water as Josie poured us a cup of coffee at the back of our car, we showed her the thermos flasks which we always take, "Ah tailgate tea, what a great idea!"

How good to end the holiday with a wide smile!!!

16th June 2012, Local, wet and windy!

The wet weather continues, it seems a long time since the sun shone for any length of time around here and it was hard to decide where to walk today. As the day progressed I wondered why the heck I bothered in the first place, I saw little of interest and experienced regular wettings from above...I suppose a bright spot is that my waterproofs are still working!

I settled on a wander by the Leeds Liverpool canal with an option to switch to the river Aire, the canal can usually be relied upon to yield some wildlife photo opportunities. Today all I managed was one shot of a preening mallard.

The heavy foliage now on the trees and bushes does make spotting difficult at this time of the year, rain does not help either as the birds seem to like shelter as much as humans, and with rain pouring down I too took shelter for a while.

I took to experimenting with shots of a foxglove and a colourful leaf as boredom set in, as the rain eased I took a track to the river passing a newly sown field of what farmers round here call winter wheat, cow fodder.

The field paths by the river were sodden, ankle deep mud really is no fun and a lack of wildlife made me curse my decision. Another sharp shower had me hastening back towards the car!

I did pause for a while under the shelter of some trees, here the rain was easing and I was getting ready to head homewards.

The skies did brighten a little in the afternoon and eternal optimist that I am I decided on another walk, this time I stuck to the roads and had a short wander around the lanes that lead to the moors above Silsden.
At least there was no mud to deal with but the lack of luck with wildlife continued, these muscovy ducks, appearing to have fallen out, were in the garden of a farm!

One distant shot of a curlew among the sheep was scant reward for braving the weather.

I did take the opportunity of a wide angle view of Airedale.

Yet another soggy weekend walk, hopefully I can bring you some brighter sunnier shots soon!